


last christmas, i gave you my heart

by dykenance



Series: byeler holiday bash [2]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Gay, Idiots in Love, M/M, just your good ol' childhood best friends to lovers angst-fluff mess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-18
Updated: 2019-12-18
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:34:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21839788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dykenance/pseuds/dykenance
Summary: “Then you can manage another few days, right? I’ll be out of sight, out of mind. We can go back to normal.” Will hates himself for the spite tangled in his voice. Hates himself for being a coward.“That’s not normal,” Mike says, eyeing Will with his heart on his sleeve. His jaw juts out and his eyes gleam under the purplish night sky. “You’re my best friend, you’re—it’s not normal for us. At all.”
Relationships: Will Byers/Mike Wheeler
Series: byeler holiday bash [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1572577
Comments: 12
Kudos: 67





	last christmas, i gave you my heart

It only takes two minutes of being in Mike’s house for Will to bolt. It takes two minutes and one quiet, “Merry Christmas, Will,” for him to aim for long gone. He's used to his flight instinct anyway.

He stumbles out to the chain-link fence behind the house, wrapping shaking fingers into the metal. Listlessly, he sinks to the ground, wondering why the fuck he can’t just do this. Why he can’t be around his ‘best friend’ just for the holidays. El had run off with Max the moment they stepped through the door, and Will knew his friends were waiting for him, so why couldn’t he just  _ manage _ ?

He didn’t mean to be so scared. He didn’t want to keep running, wanted to learn to find solace in family and people and togetherness once again.

He didn’t want to be lonely. But it’s what he’s used to.

As hot tears trickle down his face, cold air takes advantage of the bare parts of his skin, freezing his cheeks and hands; after a moment, Will clenches his fists and buries them in his jacket, head resting against his forearms. Yes, eventually he has to go back in. Eventually, he has to deal with this. Eventually he’ll learn. Eventually isn’t now.

Unfortunately, it only takes about two minutes for a soft, homely glow to spill out over the snow in front of him, revealing that someone had followed him out.

“Will?”

Will bites down on his lip, threatening to crack it in the spiteful winter air. “What, Mike?”

“Why did you run?” The boy hugs himself, stepping out tentatively into the yard.

“You know why.”

Mike’s footsteps crunch across the icy snow. He doesn’t say anything else, just hands Will a thicker coat and sits beside him.

Irritated, Will snaps, “You know what, Mike? I really don’t understand why you’d waste your time out here.” He sets the coat in his lap and pushes himself back clumsily with both feet, back bumping loudly against the fence. “I’ll be in in a few minutes, okay?”

Mike tries aimlessly to meet his gaze, then huffs out a sad sigh. “I wanted to talk to you, Will. I’ve been trying to talk to you for forever, but you haven’t answered my calls lately, and I--”

“Then you can manage another few days, right? I’ll be out of sight, out of mind. We can go back to normal.” Will hates himself for the spite tangled in his voice. Hates himself for being a coward.

“That’s not normal,” Mike says, eyeing Will with his heart on his sleeve. His jaw juts out and his eyes gleam under the purplish night sky. “You’re my best friend, you’re—it’s not normal for us. At all.”

“Well, I can’t do this anymore, Mike. I’m sorry.” Will gathers up all his courage, gathers all of the words he practiced in the mirror and went over again and again through salty tears when he caught himself overthinking in the shower. “I was honest with you, and you knew I had feelings for you and, and I know things were complicated with El and the breakup and  _ whatever _ ! But you could have just been honest with me!”

Mike narrows his eyes. “What’s it matter if I talk and you don’t listen?”

A moment of silence falls between them, filled with conversations between blazing eyes and gentle puffy clouds from their breath and shiny white snow, inviting the excitement of Christmas and the cold of winter up to the center playing field.

Will sits up straighter against the fence, crossing his arms over his knees to put some distance between him and the boy in front of him. “Go ahead.”

Mike lets out a deep breath. “My family is… a lot different than yours. I thought I couldn’t talk to my mom about anything, and I was so lost and confused and—I didn’t know what I felt for El! For  _ you _ ! And you understood, or at least somewhat understood what you were feeling, but I didn’t.” A sniveling sound fills the air briefly. “I’m not saying that excuses me acting distant and weird, but… I don’t know. You move to another city and you meet all these new people, people who can talk about that stuff, but here? I couldn't find anyone. And I didn’t have you anymore, and it scared me. A lot. You gotta know, Will, I knew something was different for a long time, but I felt like I could never ask if you knew it too, and then when you said something like it was that  _ easy _ I just—“ his forehead creases harshly. “I’ve been stuck for so long. I--”

Will feels like his heart is beating outside of his chest, sat crying and heartbroken in front of him. He lifts Mike’s bare hand from the snow and threads it with his, waiting quietly for him to pull his teary eyes from the ground, to settle the racing heartbeat Will swears he can feel through his gloves. The boy opposite him presses his lips together tightly, red rimming his nose and the bottoms of his eyelids, sadness protruding like a broken bone from his features.

Will aches for him.

The boy who has always held him, comforted him, had his back. His first friend. 

The boy he abandoned. 

He had never meant to do that.

“Will,” Mike mumbles, lost in the snow and the stars and the warmth he and Will form in their own little bubble. A snowflake lands on his nose and he sniffles. “I’m really sorry.”

Will shakes his head, pushes forward onto his knees, parks himself between Mike’s, and relishes in the blown-out look in his eyes.  _ He’s never kissed a boy _ . Mike smiles, a nervous quirk of his lips, and everything is slow motion, everything beckoning Will forward, every bit of contact between them screaming the known unknown of  _ I love you _ .

With his free hand, he cups Mike’s cheek, then catches his lips between his own for a chaste first kiss.

A choked sort of sound falls from Mike’s nose, and then he pushes forward, grabbing onto Will’s shoulder before leaning back just enough to break the contact, forehead pressed against Will’s.

Will strokes his cheekbone, littered with snowflakes and blotchy tears. “Is that okay?”

Mike nods, eyes flitting between Will’s. “Yes,” he whispers.

Then Will lifts Mike’s chin between his thumb and forefinger, smiling softly, comfortingly, because he  _ loves  _ Mike; he’s loved him for years, and it’s okay if he’s scared. Will is scared too. But they’ve got each other.

_ Together _ .

This time Mike pushes forward, a hand sliding to the back of Will’s neck. His chest falls flush against Will’s, and  _ damn _ , it’s nice. As Mike tilts his head, inviting something deeper that makes Will sigh against his lips, Will tugs at his waist, pulling him as close as possible, and it’s warm and like shooting fire through his veins. It’s his best friend; his best friend is kissing him like he means it and nothing else matters. Mike easily melts into Will, who curls into the embrace and twists his fingers into Mike’s hair. 

And then they’re one. So close they’re sharing breath and skin and  _ everything _ .

“M-Mike,” Will says hoarsely once he pulls away, fingers still caught up in Mike’s hair as the boy blinks dazedly at him. “Are you sure—is this what you want?”

“Will, this…” he looks between Will’s eyes then stares at the ground like he can’t handle it, a sweet chuckle lifting his cheeks, “this is all I’ve ever wanted. But--you? Do you still want to, um--? Because I get it, I mean, I was an idiot and--”

Will can’t help himself. He leans in to press a kiss to Mike’s lips again, but this time, it’s a lot more smile than anything. “Yes. God, yes. I’ve had the dumbest crush on you since we were like ten.” And then the smile falters slightly. “I’m sorry. I should have called you back.”

“Don’t sweat it.” Mike grins at him, and Will thinks he could survive the rest of his life on the high he gets from being able to  _ feel  _ the boy’s smile. “We got there.”

_ Back to normal _ .

Will uses his advantage to pull Mike into a tight embrace, resting his head in between his neck and shoulder, clinging to his back and pulling him even closer with his legs around his waist. With a quiet, ‘oof,’ he falls to his back, bringing Mike down over him.

And then they’re giggling, caught up in fits of nervous and relieved laughter, holding onto each other and smiling like the world has opened up just for them, like the sky and the ground are smiling onto them.

Mike places a hand on either side of Will’s head, grinning down at him like he’s won something.

“ _ What _ ?”

“Merry Christmas, Will.”

Will gingerly reaches up and cradles the back of his head like he’s going to pull him in for a kiss, but he just lets his hands explore Mike’s face. Squishes his cheeks. Presses a finger into that  _ one  _ stupid freckle on his jaw. Tucks his hair behind his ear, and twirls a finger into the curl. Everything he’s been waiting for. At first, Mike squints at him like he’s going to say something smart; but then he just blinks down at Will with a languid smile and presses a kiss to his wrist.

“Merry Christmas.” Will meets him with a teasing smile, scrunching up his nose. “God, we’re gonna get so sick.”

Mike shrugs. “Worth it?”

“Oh, absolutely.” He holds up a pinky. “Idiots together?”

Mike chuckles, full-belly laughter that lights up his face and seeing it inches from his own has Will’s heart expanding until he thinks he’s going to explode.

“Idiots together,” he finally concedes.

And Will is pulling Mike in, guiding him gently, but then he stops. Chuckles like it’s a secret, ignoring Mike’s confused look. And finally, Will swipes at Mike’s nose, still a bit drippy from his earlier tears. Mike swats at his hand and groans, “Ew, gross.”

“You’re the one that cried, dumbass.”

“You don’t have to do  _ that _ .”

“I don’t exactly want snot on me when I’m trying to kiss you.” Will quirks an eyebrow, and Mike rolls his eyes.

“Whatever.”

After the next few minutes, where it seems the world belongs to them, rested carefully in their linked fingers, Will finally speaks up.

“Mike,” he leans away from a kiss, kisses the boy’s nose to compensate, then rests his head back down on the ground. “We should probably go back inside. Let someone know we didn’t run away or anything.”

“Still an option if we don’t.”

Will shakes his head and rolls his eyes, pushing himself into a sitting position, even though it means Mike being tangled problematically between his limbs.

They stand slowly, tripping over each other’s legs and admiring each other’s snow stains, perhaps shaking a little from the cold but high enough on life to ignore it.

Side by side, they walk up to the door.

Will removes his left glove to intertwine his hand with Mike’s, chances a glance up at Mike, and raises an eyebrow, smiling. “Together?”

Mike nods. “Always.”

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you liked this one!! please let me know in the comments if you did <3 also, if you happen to have a tumblr, i'm posting all of this series on there as well, so please feel free to show it some love there!! anyway, i really appreciate everybody reading; you're all so sweet and have the kindest things to say. ily and happy holidays!!


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